1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to clothes dryers, and in particular to an energy-efficient clothes dryer.
2. State of the Art
A clothes dryer is a useful household appliance that is useful in removing moisture from clothing and other textiles usually after the clothing has been washed in water.
A traditional clothes dryer operates by continuously pulling in cool, dry, ambient-air surrounding the dryer and heating it before passing it through the tumbler where the clothes are located. As the heated air passes over the wet clothing, the moisture within the clothing evaporates into the heated air, thus drying the clothes. The resulting hot, humid air is vented back out into the ambient air, usually to the ambient air outside the home or dwelling in which the dryer is operating, to allow the dryer to continue to pull the cool, dry inside air over the heating element to continue the drying process.
Because the traditional dryer must continuously raise the temperature of the ambient air entering the dryer to a higher temperature to operate effectively, it must necessarily consume a substantial amount of energy to do so. This is inherently inefficient. Also, traditional dryers provide a constant air flow through the dryer to dry the clothes and fail to adjust the air flow based on the individual load within the dryer, which wastes the power supplied to the motor and heating element.
In view of the above, and in view of the movement toward “greener” appliances, there is a need for a clothes dryer that addresses the above-mentioned problems to operate more efficiently and cost-effectively.